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Overview

While nearly half of Americans identify themselves with a fundamentalist brand of religion, and a sizable minority has rejected religion altogether, there is a vast middle ground. This book is aimed at that huge group of people who describe themselves as spiritual but not religious. In other words, people who are open to encountering the divine and the transcendent, and indeed actively seek these experiences. The authors help readers improve their understanding of the religious nature of the psyche, the origins of myths and religions in the collective unconscious, and the ways in which organized religion has often worked to infantilize its followers. They leave the reader with an empowered ability to claim his or her own spiritual authority and lead a more abundant, authentic life.

Many of those who have left organized religion have done so because it has hurt them in some way or because it failed to address their needs, yet they maintain a strong yearning to reconnect with the divine and transcendent level of human existence. As religious fundamentalism continues to influence so much of our national discourse, and as atheistic books rank high on bestseller lists, the time has never been more crucial for a book to address a third way between fundamentalism and atheism - a way that encourages readers to connect with their true religious nature, while at the same time maintaining their intellectual integrity and claiming their own authority. McGehee and Thomas offer that third way.

What People Are Saying

Arianna Huffington

"In these troubled times, the call of the soul—the desire to find spiritual fulfillment and meaning—has never been more powerful. Or more important. Yet that call is in danger of being drowned out by a culture obsessed with fame and wealth, and leery of religious charlatans offering salvation to the highest bidder. Filled with insight and sharp wit, The Invisible Church quiets the din and offers a path to a deeper, richer, more transcendent life."

James Hollis

"For the thoughtful modern, The Invisible Church: Finding Spirituality Where You Are, opens a path between mindless literalism on the one hand and arid secularism on the other. McGehee and Thomas reclaim the psychological profundity of religion while simultaneously summoning the reader to grow into spiritual maturity. With wit, humor, and parabolic insight, they wonderfully open the reader to discern the Divine moving through the forms of our daily lives."

John Shelby Spong

"The Invisible Church by Pittman McGehee and Damon Thomas is the most provocative understanding of the psychology of religion that I have read since Erich Fromm's The Art of Loving. It speaks to our obvious questions. It awakens our unconscious yearnings."

Robert A. Johnson D. Hum

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

"McGehee, former dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Houston and director of the Institute for the Advancement of Psychology and Spirituality, and Thomas (coauthor, Speaking from the Heart) see peril for all of us in two unreconciled extremes in religious life—faithless fact and irrational fiction. Their well-argued book posits another direction for the many seekers who find themselves somewhere between atheism and Fundamentalism; guided by the ideas of Jung, they evoke the power of the inner realities of myth. .. effective and moving…"

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Library Journal

Library Journal

McGehee, former dean of Christ Church Cathedral in Houston and director of the Institute for the Advancement of Psychology and Spirituality, and Thomas (coauthor, Speaking from the Heart) see peril for all of us in two unreconciled extremes in religious life-faithless fact and irrational fiction. Their well-argued book posits another direction for the many seekers who find themselves somewhere between atheism and Fundamentalism; guided by the ideas of Jung, they evoke the power of the inner realities of myth. Their effective and moving book is diminished only by weak anecdotes and examples; when they speak in their own (joint) voice, they speak with authority.

Related Subjects

Meet the Author

J. PITTMAN MCGEHEE is a private-practice analyst. He teaches at University of Houston and is the director of The Institute for the Advancement of Psychology and Spirituality. He served, for 11 years, as Dean of Christ Church cathedral in Houston. He has held many distinguished lectureships, including the 1987 Harvey Lecture at the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin; the 1988 Perkins Lecture in Wichita Falls; the 1990 Woodhull Lectures in Dayton, and the 1991 St. Luke's Lectures in Birmingham. He was the 1994 Rockwell Visiting Theologian at the University of Houston and 1996 Carolyn Fay Lecturer in Analytical Psychology also at the University of Houston.

DAMON J. THOMAS is a writer and editor living in Houston, Texas. He is the co-author of Speaking from the Heart: Transforming Stage Fright and Telling Your Own Story (co-written with Sandra Zimmer). An experienced journalist and public relations executive, Thomas has published numerous newspaper and magazine articles.

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